Thursday, June 18, 2009

Sofa's Durability Depends On Fabric

How exactly is a fabric’s durability measured? Most fabrics go by one of two test methods, known as Wyzenbeek and Martindale, to give the fabric an “abrasion” or “double rub” rating. Essentially, the fabric is pulled tight and rubbed in two directions by a standard weight fabric; if two yarn breaks occur, or if noticeable wear is observed, at that point the number of rubs is recorded as the abrasion rating. 30,000 double rubs is considered minimum durability for commercial use; hotels, conference rooms, etc. Between 30,000 and 100,000 is considered heavy duty. Although these tests are only used as tools for predicting wear, it can help when looking at fabrics, to know that the higher the abrasion rating number is, the better it performed on the durability test.

At Landfair Furniture + Design Gallery you will notice that most of the Sherrill fabrics have a "wearability" rating from Heavy and Medium to Light. The Duralee fabrics carry a durabilty rating and the samples will have a "double rub" rating.

It's important for your satisfaction with our furniture that you pair the durability of the fabric with its use. You wouldn't want to use a linen fabric, for example, in the den where the kids wrestle. You also wouldn't want to use a lower quality sofa or chair in a room that gets heavy use.

In our store we have sofas with different price points, different styles and fabrics that can be ordered to fit your needs.